Elladora Prewett: The Brewing of Lies
by Margaret McQuerry
Summary: Nymphadora Tonks, who is really Elladora Prewett, sets out for an eventful first three years at Hogwarts. Especially when she tries to keep her secret about her identity of being Bellatrix Lestrange's daughter.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I've wished on my birthday cake for five years, and guess what? I DON'T OWN IT! J.K. does, and so does the WB. I do claim Elladora Prewett's… back storyish.

** Elladora Prewett:**

**The Brewing of Lies **

_Chapter One_

_Being babysat, and Diagon Alley_

"Ella, what did I tell you about your hair?"

"To change it when we have company?"

"And what did I tell you about today?"

"Um… that your old friend was coming over to take me to Diagon alley?" I offered meekly, and Aunt raised an eyebrow.

"Then why is your hair still red?" She asked, looking at my dark auburn locks. I gulped.

"Sorry, Aunt Andromeda, I'll change it immediately." I said bowing my head. Aunt seemed satisfied with this, and went to answer the door because someone had rang the doorbell. As soon as she had turned the corner out of the sitting room I stuck my tongue out at where she had gone.

"Then why is you hair still red!" I badly mimicked her before frowning, and with a dizzying shock of concentration I turned my long red locks to a completely different colour. But it wasn't the colour that Aunt was meaning me to change it to.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Remus sighed before he pressed the doorbell button. He wasn't sure why he agreed to baby-sit Andromeda's little girl, though he had a feeling he was thinking of the money. After all he could really use that five galleons an hour. But he was a bit afraid, seeing as Andromeda had been very eager about dumping her daughter on him for the day, which included taking the girl to Diagon Alley for school supplies. _Just think about how poor you are, Remus, think about that 30 galleons at the least for this job…_

Just as he had decided not to think about how horrible the girl could be a woman with fading brown hair, and accusing eyes that told you that you were wrong, and always would be opened the door with a smile. "Ah, Remus, right on time!"

"Good morning, Andromeda." Remus smiled, hoping his worry about how rotten the girl would be didn't show.

"Come in, come in!" Andromeda stepped aside to allow him to step in, which he did. It was a very large, rich looking house, and it seemed most things were just there to impose on visitors. Including a large chandelier that was directly above them, and although it was daytime they had the candles lit. Now Remus knew how Andromeda could afford those five galleons an hour. He almost felt a bit ripped off, in fact.

"So how have you been, Remus?" Andromeda asked standing at the doorway to the sitting room where Remus thought he saw a glimpse of a girl who seemed to be mimicking someone.

"I could be better…" He said regretting how he sounded, as if he thought he was being ripped off.

"Oh, Remus!" Andromeda chuckled. "What could ever make you say that?"

"Oh, it's just so hard to find a job where they don't mind…" He searched for a good term. "My kind."

Andromeda seemed to be thinking for a moment, and then to Remus' shock said, "How about I make you my girl's permanent baby-sitter for when she's home for the summer, and Christmas holidays?"

"I-I…" He hadn't even met this child yet, and here was her mother trying to hire him for a permanent baby-sitter! And after all, how bad would a child need to be to need a permanent baby-sitter at all? He gulped.

"Shall I take that as a yes?" Andromeda seemed awfully eager again, and Remus' worry increased. _After all, this girl _is _Sirius' second cousin…_ Remus gave a mental shudder. But there was no way that this girl could be worse than Sirius Black, after all _he'd _been sent to Azkaban!

"Err…" He just reminded himself that he really did need the money, and said, to Andromeda's obvious delight, "Yes."

"Oh, thank you, Remus!" She cried with happiness, and Remus heard a girl gasp from the sitting room.

"Your… well, yes…" Remus smiled, and was a little frightened about how bad this girl would be.

"Well, lets go into the sitting room now, shall we?" Andromeda turned around, and walked into the room, and with a long sigh Remus followed her in. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the girl. She was relatively average looking for an eleven year-old, with a heart-shaped face, and twinkling eyes. It was her hair that shocked him though, her hair, which was reached just above her shoulders, was_ pink_.

"Wotcher, baby-sitter!" The girl said with a smile.

"Um…." Andromeda seemed a little lost for words, and after a moment of silence she coughed, and picked up a clipboard that had a paper on it. Turning to face Remus, she handed him the clipboard, and said, "Sign at the bottom." She then handed him a pen advertising a potion claiming to cure acne. Remus looked down at the paper, and when he did heard Andromeda, and the girl whispering to each other.

The paper had peanut butter smeared on it, and he read the parts readable.

_Rules, and Regulations:_

_No feeding the child anything with sugar, or (peanut butter smudge)._

_No helping the (peanut butter smudge) clean up messes she makes._

_No trusting the child with anything involving glass, wood, standing, important, or (peanut butter smudge)._

_We are not liable for injury involving this job: (peanut butter smudge), and Theodore Tonks can(peanut butter smudge) be held responsible for any injuries that may come from baby-sitting the girl. Unless such injury is a result from something not involving the girl._

Remus looked up at the two others in the room, they were no longer whispering, but looking at him expectantly. He blinked. The girl's hair was no longer a bubble-gum pink, but was now a dark blonde. He sighed, figuring he had been seeing things before, and glanced down at the form, the _legal_ form. How many people needed their baby-sitter's sign to legal forms? How many legal forms were covered in peanut butter? He wasn't sure which frightened, and confused him more.

Remembering that he needed the money he signed at the bottom of the form with a mental sigh. He heard a sigh of relief from Andromeda, and a sigh of disgust from the girl. When looking at them he saw that Andromeda looked ready to kiss or hug him, and the girl was looking at him as if he was insane.

Handing the clipboard to Andromeda he said, "Well, hello…." He tried to remember what the girl's name was, but remembered that Andromeda had never said.

"Tonks." The girl said as Andromeda said with a wince, "Nymphadora."

"Nymphadora," Andromeda winced. "Hello, Nymphadora." Both of the ladies winced.

"Call me Tonks." Nymphadora said awfully firmly for an eleven-year-old.

"Nymphadora." Remus said, and Andromeda winced again.

Nymphadora seemed to be thinking for a few minutes before saying, "How about Dora?"

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

I was relieved when Remus said, "Fine, Dora it is." I sighed, and Aunt visibly relaxed. It had always bothered Aunt when anyone said 'Nymphadora'. That had been the name of her _real_ daughter. The one who had disappeared five years ago. About week or two before Aunt had taken me in to take the place of Nymphadora.

"Well, I have to get to work." Aunt said finally, and picked up a coin purse. "Well here's the money for Diagon Alley, there should be enough." She sighed handing him the small cloth coin purse.

Remus nodded, and I sighed. The man was either desperate for money, or completely mad. Who'd be crazy enough to sign a LEGAL form stating that the 'parents' weren't LIABLE FOR INJURY INVOLVING AN ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD!

"Bye, _mum_." I said to Aunt's obvious annoyance.

"Have a good day." Remus said, and I smirked which I knew would worry Aunt a bit.

"Well, I'll see you both late this evening." Aunt said slowly, smoothing a wrinkle in her green healer's robes. She slowly walked out the door, and I waved at her with a truly devilish smirk when she looked at me the last time before leaving for work.

Once she was gone with a POP Remus turned to me. I said with a sigh, "You're insane."

He furrowed his brow, and said, "Why do you say that?"

"You just took a baby-sitting job where the parents had you sign liability papers." I said with a smile. Remus was a handsome man with salty-sandy brown hair, and kind brown eyes. It was rather weird seeing him wearing such tattered clothing.

"I need the money, though." He said.

"Then why don't you work for the ministry?"

"Their not very fond of my…" He looked like he was searching for a word. "My type."

"And what type is that?" I raised my eyebrows. "Completely mad type?"

"No the…" He frowned. "It's complicated."

"I'm a smart kid."

"It's too complicated to explain."

"You seem smart enough to give me a run through." I kept trying to pry into Remus' little secret.

He sighed. "Let's just say I have a 'furry little problem'."

I raised my eyebrows higher. "You have a badly behaved rabbit?"

He started to say something, but just sighed again.

"Your…. A werewolf?" I guessed quietly. He gave me a side-ways glance, and I figured I was right. "Am I right?"

"Err… no." He said, not looking at me, and I knew it was a lie.

"Oh." I decided to not pry there anymore. "When are we going to Diagon Alley?" I asked.

"How about now?" He offered, and I nodded. As we walked out the front door I changed my hair back to it's lovely pink, and he seemed a bit taken back. "How did you do that?"

"I'm a metamorphmagus." I smiled.

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We had taken the Knight Bus, and I was repeated thrown about, and when we had gotten off Remus' looked a tad-bit sick. Once we had established the fact that neither of us had anything to eat that morning we went into the Leaky Cauldron to grab a bite to eat.

We had, to my delightful surprise, peanut butter sandwiches with a bit of juice. He even ignored the fact that this stuff was a bit messy, even though it had been on the legal papers. Though I think that may because I smeared peanut butter on it.

After eating in silence we moved on to shopping in relative silence, until we got to going into the shops part. I knocked over all the book cases in a domino effect in Flourish, and Blotts, broke two shelves of potions in the Apothecary, knocked over three fabric racks in the clothing shop, and then we got to Olivanders.

"Ah… miss…" Mr Olivander searched my face, and I gulped. He smiled a knowing smile that made me want to spit in his wrinkled face. "Miss Tonks. I remember your parents, willow, and rowan." He then looked to Remus. "And Mr. Lupin, ash, right?"

Remus nodded, and Mr. Olivander smiled. After a bit of measuring me with a wave of his wand he handed me a wand to try. I waved it, heard a loud bang, and saw fireworks from behind the shelves behind the counter. I giggled.

"Cool." Both men looked at me with slight frowns.

"Ah, 9" Hazel with Leprechaun hair core," Mr. Olivander looks at me with a weird look. Remus blinked.

"When did your family become Irish, Dora?" He asked me, and I paled, not that I could become any paler.

"Uh…" I could've just said that my dad was Irish, but they knew Uncle Ted was Dutch, and English, not Irish like my birth dad. I shrugged, "Who knows." I said with a very fine Irish accent. The two men chuckled, and we took the Knight Bus home.

When we walked in the door we sat down in the sitting room, it was early afternoon. "So, Dora, what house do you think you'll be in?"

I shrugged, and replied with an "I don't know."

"Come on you must have some idea which house you want?"

I thought about it for a few minutes. My real mum had been in Hufflepuff; my real dad had been too. But all of my mum's family had been Slytherins otherwise, and my dad's had been Gryffindors. "I really don't know…"

"Well since your parents are Ravenclaws, what about that house?" I mentally sighed at the thought of Aunt, and Uncle as my parents.

"Never in a million years."

"What about Slytherin?"

"What house were you in?" I asked not wanting to go into the Slytherin theory.

"Gryffindor."

"Then maybe I'll be in that house, too." I smiled.

"Maybe you will be." He smiled softly.

"How old are you?" I asked, since I had been wondering all day.

"24." He answered, and my jaw dropped. "I know I look older." I shook my head.

"I thought you were still a teen!" He raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" I nodded. "Well… thank you." He smiled wider.

I really did think he was about seventeen, even if he did already have greying hair.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Remus was very relieved when the day ended. Nymphadora was very clumsy, but not a bad child at all. She was kind, bubbly, and hadn't been any trouble at all. He was once again confused though. It seemed to him that Nymphadora was nothing like the straight-backed obsessive-compulsive Andromeda, and nor was she like the lazy bookkeeper Ted.

Remus even had the funny idea that she had been switched at birth with someone else's child. He chuckled out-loud at the thought, and then moved on to think about why Andromeda had flinched whenever anyone had said "Nymphadora" as if it was curse. _Maybe Dora only acts nice to strangers, but is a devil child to her parents? _It seemed plausible, after glimpsing Dora smirk at her mother.

"That must be it." He said to himself, and a witch on the Knight Bus turned to him suspiciously.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author note**: Revised as of Dec. 5th 2007. Third chapter forth coming!**  
**

**Chapter Two **

_Hogwarts Express and The Sorting Hat_

"Why do I have to go?" Dora whined, and Remus smiled slightly. Today was the day that Dora would be going off to Hogwarts. The day that she would be sorted into a house of which would decide her fate forever. Also the day of which Remus was turning in an application for a job at a Diagon Alley shop.

"Don't worry, it won't be that bad."

"Everyone'll hate me." She looked down at her trainers.

"You'll have a horde of giggling friends the minute you walk in the door." He ruffled her hair.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because if I can make a few good friends, you'll be the most popular person ever." Dora looked at him skeptically. "You'll be fine."

"Liar." Dora said with a frown.

"DORA!" Remus looked over Dora's head to see a red haired boy the same age as Dora running towards them.

"Charlie!" Dora said happily when the boy was in closer hearing range.

"See, you already have a friend, and you haven't even gotten on the bloody train yet!" Remus laughed.

"Oh, Dora!" A plump red haired woman, obviously Charlie's mum, came over to give Dora a large hug.

"Mrs. Weasley!" Dora said, and the woman seemed a bit disoriented by the name, but still smiled pleasantly before noticing Remus.

"Hullo' there, I'm Molly Weasley, Charlie's mum." The woman, Molly held out her hand, and Remus gave her hand a shake.

"Hi, I'm Dora's baby-sitter." Molly raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Your baby-sitter's a bloke?" Charlie whispered very loudly to Dora.

"No, he's a woman with bad hair." Dora said sarcastically, and rolled her eyes. Charlie shrugged, and Remus smiled his friendly smile.

"Well it was nice meeting you, Mr., I think I can see El-" Dora was rapidly shaking her head, and Molly instead said, "I can see this girl on the train safely." Remus nodded, wondering what Dora didn't want Molly to say in front of him.

"I'll see you this Christmas, Dora?" Remus ruffled her hair again when she turned up to him.

"See you this Christmas."

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Ella watched as Remus walked off the platform, and through the barrier back to the muggle part of the station. They had spent the last eight days in each other's company, and had become probably as good of friends Ella could with a twenty-four year old, and still keep her secret. Ella began thinking about how her aunt Molly had almost called her Elladora, and almost broke into fear of wondering if her cousin Charlie, or her cousin Bill might mess-up at school like Aunt Molly could have. A number of possible scenarios rushed into her mind, each one ending up more horrible than the one before it.

Just as she was about ready to run off the platform Charlie broke her worried daze with his loud shouting. "_DORA_!" Ella whipped her head toward her cousin, and gulped. Her eyes were wide with surprise, as she had forgotten that her cousin was still standing there, and she gulped again. Charlie had raised an eyebrow, and was staring at her.

"Y-yes?"

"Weren't you listening?" Charlie asked with an exasperated grunt.

"Um…"

"Ella, dear, are you alright?" Aunt Molly said with concern. Ella nodded, and made an attempt at a smile, but I came out as a grimace. "Oh, sweetie…" The red haired woman reached down, and pulled the slightly shaking girl into a warm embrace.

"I asked a question, you know!" Charlie growled, and Ella sniffed, but just gave him a 'does it look like I really care?' look.

"Yes, I think we know…" Ella looked behind her aunt's shoulder, and saw a taller version of Charlie with longer red hair.

"It's so great to see you, dearie, we've been worried all these years after Gid-…" A pained expression graced Aunt Molly's features, and she sighed. "After your father died, and then we heard about your mum being arrested…" Ella closed her eyes in memory of her parents, and then looked back at her aunt, and her cousins who were currently arguing. "I had no idea she had been supporting _him_…" Ella coughed loudly, and brought Molly out of her dazed state.

"Oh, well anyway, there'll be time for stories later, I suppose." Aunt Molly sighed with a sad smile just as the train whistle blew, and she gasped. "Is it that time already? Oh, you children have to hurry!"

The train began to move just as Ella had hopped on board after her trunk had been pulled up, and on by her cousins. The three cousins stood in their place for a moment, and then Bill began to walk down the walkway of the train, the two first years on his heel. Near the back of the train he slid open a compartment door, and began to walk in. The two youngsters began to follow him in, but he turned to them, and said, "Sorry, kiddies, third years only." He smiled, and Ella, and Charlie gaped at him.

As he slid closed the glass door the two cousins walked past, just barely glancing in at Bill, and his group of friends. Two compartments down, the last one in fact, was empty. Charlie, and Ella walked in, not attempting to put their trunks up, but shoving them in front of their seats.

"What a prick…" Charlie said as he set his feet on top of his trunk. Ella walked back into the aisle. "Where're you going?"

Ella ignored the question, and slid open Bill's compartment door. The third years stopped giggling, and turned to her when she did. With a deep intake of breath first, and a mischievous smile Ella yelled loudly into the compartment. "BILL WEASLEY STILL WETS THE BED!" She quickly closed the compartment door, and ecstatically ran back to her compartment. She could hear them all laughing, and Bill denying every word.

"That was brilliant!" Charlie said leaning out the door when Ella ran in. He slid closed the door, and looked like Christmas had just come. Ella looked even happier. She couldn't wait to see what Bill's revenge would be. Ella figured it would most likely be something involving a humiliating fact from when she was young.

After the two had settled down a black haired girl with very pink cheeks, and bright grey eyes slid open the compartment door. Ella thought she looked awfully startled at the sight of the two trunks in the middle of the compartment, with Charlie's feet propped up on his, and Ella's head laying on hers. Both first years looked up to the stunned girl.

"Yes…?" Charlie said in what Ella thought of as a very rude voice.

"M-may I sit with you?" said the girl when brought out of her daze.

"Sure!" Ella said with her cheery smile. The girl seemed relieved.

"I'm Hestia Jones."

"I'm Charlie," Charlie said with a lazed smile. "And that's Ella-"

"I'm Tonks." Ella cut him off when he had begun saying her real name with a pound of fright. Charlie raised an eyebrow at her, and she gave him the 'I'll tell you later, prick' look, and he shrugged.

"First years?" The two cousins nodded, and Hestia looked even more relaxed. She walked into the compartment, and sat down, after awkwardly stubbing her toe on Ella's trunk, next to Charlie across from Ella. "Why are you trunks on the floor?" Hestia asked raising an eyebrow.

Ella ignored the question, and asked her own. "Where's your trunk?" she looked pointedly at the pastel purple bag that Hestia had set down on Ella's trunk in front of her. Ella was now sitting on her knees on the seat.

"Up there." Hestia said pointing up above Ella's head. Sure enough when Ella leaned forward, and turned she saw a trunk with the initials H.J. in silver below the latch.

"How'd it get up there?" Charlie asked in an awed voice as Ella stared at the rack that she had before seen empty above her head with now Hestia's stuff somehow now there.

"The luggage people witched it up there, I guess…"

With a sigh Ella said, "I'll go get someone to put Charlie's, and mine up there…" She slid off her seat onto her trunk, and from there stepped onto the floor in front of the glass door. Sliding open the door, she stumbled out the door, and landed with a scrap on her knees on the carpeted aisle. Cursing at her clumsiness, and Charlie's snickers she went up to Bill's compartment. It was his fault that her, and Charlie hadn't known to give their trunks to the luggage people, after all he was older, and should have known that they'd wouldn't know something like that.

Sliding the door open Ella looked in at the third years, Bill near the window his face a mix of horror, and anger. With a small "ahem" Ella began, "BILL WEASLEY LOVES CORNELIA VANCE!" And with that screamed into the compartment she slammed the glass door shut, shocked that it didn't break, and raced down the hall of compartments. Sadly after passing about three compartments she tripped. Flat on her face she went, and she cursed before looking up at the person who she had just before said something very rude about their mother.

Her jaw dropped when she looked up at whom she had insulted.

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Charlie was startled when his trunk went from under his feet to the rack above where a very annoyed Bill was sitting. He also noticed the initials on Ella's trunk. "Hey, Bill!"

"What!"

"When did Dora's initials become N.T.?" Bill stood up, and looked at Dora's trunk where two silver letters were N.T.

"When did she turn eleven?"

"This December…"

"Charlie…"

"Yeah…?"

"That can't be Ella…"

"Who's Ella?" Charlie, and Bill both turned to Hestia, who was just waking up from a nap she'd been taken.

"That girl who left to get someone to put the trunks up." Bill answered, looking again at Dora's trunk.

"I thought she said her name was Tonks…?" Hestia raised an eyebrow. Charlie began to say how Tonks was the last name of Ella's aunt when the glass door slid open loudly, and a tall girl with a permanent sneer plastered on her alabaster face strode in, holding the pink haired girl by the ear.

"Does this," The girl, who wore a Head Girl badge, glanced at Dora. "Belong to any of you?" The Weasley boys blinked.

"If you meant was she sitting with us, then yes, she does." Hestia answered with a yawn. The Head Girl immediately let Ella drop to the floor, and with a rude sniff strode out of the compartment.

"That stupid-" Ella began to say before Bill, and Charlie grabbed her by the arms, and dragged her out into the hall, closing the compartment door behind them. "Hey, what's all this about…?"

"Who the bloody hell are you, and what have you done with Elladora?" Charlie blurted, and Ella blinked at him with agitation.

"I _am_ Elladora, you prat!"

"Then why does your trunk say N.T.?" Bill asked.

"I… It's a long story!" Ella growled.

"We've got time, you-you… fake person!" Charlie said, not sure of a good term for what he thought of Ella at the moment.

"It's_complicated_!" Ella said with an exasperated sigh.

"We're smart kids."

"It's hard to explain!"

"You're smart enough, body-snatcher to give us a run through!"

"Fine." Ella muttered.

"Finally!"

"I'll tell you after we're at Hogwarts." And with that Ella shoved past her cousins, and back into the compartment, where Hestia had begun reading a book.

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Not too much longer later the three first years were standing in the Great Hall, in front of a stool with a tattered hat sitting on top of it. Everything was rather quiet, besides the talking, and the steady dripping coming from Ella. The poor girl had fallen into the lake, had been lifted out of it by a giant tentacle, which she discovered belonged to the Giant Squid, and was now shivering in the gamekeeper's large coat.

"Oh, Mer-merlin!" Ella stuttered, with a shiver. Charlie looked at her suspiciously. "Wh-what?"

"Nothing," Charlie answered, and Ella sighed. "Posing impostor." He muttered under his breath, and Ella groaned. Ever since she'd been dragged back to her compartment by the Head Girl Charlie had been calling her an impostor, and Ella was just waiting until after this giggle-gaggle to explain to him what happened to her when she was five. Just as she was about to tell him that he was being a prat the most shocking thing happened. The tattered hat begun to _sing. _

And not very well, as far as Ella was concerned.

"_You may not find me handsome,_

_But do not fear, for I think not of you either,_

_So here another year has come,_

_And the new younglings will place me on their head,_

_You may belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where the brave ones reside,_

_And you'll adore,_

_Or maybe Hufflepuff,_

_Where loyal workers live,_

_And without a handcuff,_

_Or possibly Ravenclaw,_

_Where the brilliant think about it,_

_And follow the gracious law,_

_Or could it be Slytherin,_

_Where the ambitious rule,_

_And within their own kin,_

_So place me on your head,_

_For I shall sort you before you're dead,_

_Or before you're in bed."_

Ella, and Charlie both gaped at the hat. "Appleby, Jerry."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Oh, MERLIN!" Ella gulped, more nervous than she had in her entire life. What if she had inherited her mum's genes of Slytherin? What if she was put there? Aunt would probably throw her out!

"Jones, Hestia." In Ella's fright they'd moved on to J, and Ella hoped that Hestia, who'd she become good friends with would be in a good house, and that she'd land there too.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Hestia skipped over to Hufflepuff, and Ella crossed her fingers, waiting for T. And after a long list of students, it came. "Tonks, Nymphadora." _Oh, please, oh, please, oh please, please, not Slytherin! _Ella stepped up to the stool, sat down, and the teacher woman set the hat on her head.

"_Tonks? Now, now, I hope you didn't think you hide that from me, too!"_After getting over the original shock of having a hat speaking in your mind, fear rose in her mind, and then the hat said in it's dry crackle, _"Don't worry Miss Prewett, I won't tell a soul."_Ella was sceptic of his words, but he didn't say anything more on the subject. _"Now, where should I put you? Such a hard-… ah what am I rambling about? I know just where to put you!" _As Ella held her breath the hat began to shout out something...

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